Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

December 15, 2025
Class Preliminarily Certified In Live Nation, Ticketmaster Monopolization Suit

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Dec. 12 preliminarily certified a class of consumers who accuse Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC, two companies that are now merged, of engaging in anticompetitive practices.
December 15, 2025
Judge Issues $13K Sanction Against OnlyFans Plaintiffs’ Counsel For AI Usage

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Dec. 12 ordered plaintiffs’ attorneys to pay $13,000 for filing “AI-tainted” briefs in the court and denied their motion to withdraw and amend those briefs and in separate orders refused to reconsider the enforceability of OnlyFans’ forum selection clause and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against OnlyFans’ owners and content creators’ agencies for deceptively marketing “chats” to subscribers.
December 15, 2025
DoorDash, Uber Sue New York City, Alleging Tipping Law Constitutional Violations

NEW YORK — DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. on Dec. 12 filed a complaint in New York federal court against the city of New York, alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution and the New York Constitution related to the city’s tipping law requiring them and other companies’ third-party food and grocery delivery platforms to solicit tips of 10% for delivery workers before delivery is complete.
December 12, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Contempt Finding In Apple Antitrust Dispute With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 11 affirmed in part a lower court’s ruling finding Apple in contempt of a court-ordered injunction to enjoin Apple Inc. from certain anticompetitive practices on its App Store but reversed in part civil contempt sanctions regarding restrictions on Apple’s ability to impose any commissions on purchases outside an app in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc., finding that the lower court did not err in finding Apple in contempt.
December 12, 2025
Judge Says Digital ‘Robux’ Are ‘Thing Of Value’ Under California Gambling Laws

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge said “old gambling provisions” need to be “clean[ed] up” but nonetheless found that they apply to “Robux,” the digital in-game currency used in the game Roblox, in an order denying a Robux-gambling website creator’s motion to dismiss claims brought against him by the parents on behalf of children “who gambled away their Robux on RBLXWild.”
December 11, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Arguments From IBM, Zillow In Dueling IPR Appeals

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a dispute over a patent held by the International Business Machines Corp. related to single-sign-on (SSO) technology with Zillow Group Inc. and a related entity, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Panel affirmed U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) findings that some claims in the patent were invalid while others were not, rejecting arguments from both parties.
December 10, 2025
Developer Of ICE Tracking App Sues Bondi Over ‘Pressured’ Removal From App Store

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The developer of the ICEBlock app and a related entity sued U.S. Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi and other Trump administration officials, alleging violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding the government’s “pressure campaign” that resulted in Apple Inc. removing the ICEBlock app from its App Store.
December 09, 2025
11th Circuit Dismisses Appeal Of Judgment For FTC In Deceptive Websites Dispute

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 8 dismissed an appeal of summary judgment and sanctions for violating a prior injunction by officers of a company operating websites that provided assistance with obtaining services such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and sold consumers’ data to third parties, finding in part that the appellate court lacked jurisdiction because the appeal was not timely.
December 09, 2025
Attorney’s Remedies Are Sufficient To Avoid AI Misuse Sanctions, Judge Says

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon declined to impose sanctions for misuse of artificial intelligence in a trademark case after an attorney took responsibility for hallucinated cites and the plaintiff and its attorneys waived associated attorney fees and said they would undertake efforts to educate about the proper uses of the technology in the legal profession.
December 09, 2025
NetChoice Challenge To Maryland’s Online Safety Act Allowed To Proceed

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge denied the Maryland attorney general’s motion to dismiss an eight-count amended complaint filed by an internet trade association representing Amazon, Google and others whose “mission is to promote online commerce and speech,” holding that the association plausibly alleges that a Maryland online safety law burdens protected editorial activity, reaches expressive conduct subject to First Amendment scrutiny and conflicts with federal law.
December 08, 2025
COMMENTARY: D&O Liability & Coverage: 2025 Trends, Developments & Decisions

By Scott M. Seaman and Pedro E. Hernandez
December 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Meta Patent Row Without Claim Construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 5 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a Texas federal judge’s dismissal of an advertising technology company’s patent infringement suit against Meta Platforms Inc., finding that the dismissal hinged on a premature resolution of a disputed claim construction in Meta’s favor and a failure to credit the plaintiff-appellant’s factual allegations.
December 08, 2025
Judge Issues Judgment Outlining Injunctions In Antitrust Suits Against Google

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In consolidated suits in which a District of Columbia federal judge determined that Google LLC violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, the judge on Dec. 5 issued an opinion and final judgment outlining prohibitory injunctions, including requiring Google not to condition the licensing of Google Play on the distribution or license “of any Google GenAI [emerging generative artificial intelligence] Product on any device sold in the United States.”
December 08, 2025
Hawaii Sues ByteDance, TikTok Over Role In Minors’ ‘Social Media Addiction’

HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii filed suit in Hawaii state court against ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries, ByteDance Inc., TikTok Inc. and TikTok Ltd. (collectively, TikTok), the operators of the TikTok social media platform, “for falsely marketing and promoting—to children and their families—an addictive and otherwise harmful social media platform.”
December 05, 2025
John R. Cash Trust Sues Coca-Cola Over ‘Infringing Ad’ In NCAA Marketing Campaign

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The John R. Cash Revocable Trust sued The Coca-Cola Co. in a Tennessee federal court, alleging violation of state laws and the Lanham Act over Coca-Cola’s “Infringing Ad” allegedly using a singing voice that is “identifiable and attributable to Johnny Cash” without permission in a 2025 NCAA college football advertising campaign on television networks and across social media platforms.
December 04, 2025
Judge Certifies Alexa Voice ID Biometric Data Class Suit, Excludes Named Plaintiff

CHICAGO — A named plaintiff who signed up for Amazon.com Inc.’s Voice ID program after the filing of a suit would be subject to unique defenses that render him unfit to be a class representative, a federal judge in Illinois said while certifying claims that the company violated Illinois law by collecting certain biometric data through its Alexa artificial intelligence system.
December 03, 2025
U.K. Plaintiffs’ Restitution Claim For ‘Honey’ Discount Losses Dismissed

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a putative class action filed by citizens of the United Kingdom against two companies that own and operate the “Honey” discount-finding browser extension, finding that the plaintiffs’ claim for monetary restitution under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is actually a claim for damages and, therefore, not recoverable.
December 03, 2025
Revised Opinion Issued Finding No Monopoly In FTC Rival Buying Suit Against Meta

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Dec. 2 issued a revised opinion with “minimal redactions” after issuing an earlier redacted opinion entering judgment in favor of Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) regarding allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that Meta monopolized the personal social networking (PSN) market by buying rivals WhatsApp and Instagram, finding that the FTC failed to show that Meta has monopoly power in the relevant market.
December 02, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Challenge To Reexamination Of Expired Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel once again ruled against a technology company on Dec. 1, affirming a finding of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that certain claims of the company’s patent describing a handheld device using a camera to receive gesture-based inputs are invalid as anticipated; the panel also dismissed the company’s appeal in part related to other patent claims that the appellate court had already held to be invalid.
December 01, 2025
Illinois Panel: No Extra Expense Coverage Owed For Loss Arising From Cyberattack

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court panel held that a management company for multiple nursing care facilities is not entitled to recover the expenses it incurred following a cyberattack on one of its payroll vendors, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in the management company’s declaratory judgment lawsuit.
December 01, 2025
Split 11th Circuit Stays Injunction That Prevents Fla. Social Media Law Enforcement

ATLANTA — A split 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the Florida attorney general’s motion to stay pending appeal of a preliminary injunction issued by a district court to stop enforcement of certain provisions of a Florida law that seeks to regulate access to certain social media platforms for Florida youth, finding “that the balance of the harms and the public interest favor a stay of the preliminary injunction.”
November 26, 2025
Federal Circuit Says ‘Best’ Claim Limitation Invalid As Indefinite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that some claims in patents describing systems for routing streamed content over the internet were invalid as indefinite and likewise affirmed findings that the technology company’s products did not meet a claim limitation required by the patents at issue.
November 26, 2025
DOJ Files Proposed Judgment In Antitrust Row With Rental Market Software Company

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a proposed final judgment in a North Carolina federal court in an antitrust suit against RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software company, alleging that RealPage used nonpublic information obtained from landlords and runs the information through its algorithmic software to align pricing, thereby impeding the free market process.
November 25, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Ruling Issuing $7.3M Sanction In Online Travel Marketing Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 24 affirmed a district court’s ruling issuing a permanent injunction barring certain individuals from future participation in multilevel marketing programs related to their participation in marketing internet-based travel services in violation of the FTC Act and imposing a sanction of $7,306,873.14 for violating a permanent injunction related to an earlier suit, finding that the sanction was appropriate and that the permanent injunction was “not overly broad.”